FAITH CAPSULE: God is a jealous God and the antidote of jealousy is attention.

Daniel 6

When there is love for God you will seek Him in a unique way. Daniel’s love for God was an example of love for God in a unique. Daniel’s love for God established his custom approach and relationship with his God. Daniel could not let the day pass by without going into the presence of God. The kind of love Daniel had for God, positioned him for deliverance and preservation from the hand of his enemies. When he was marked for an untimely death in the den of hungry lions, he made his way out by his testimony in Daniel 6:10, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”
How can a believer claim to love God and only pray to God when tough times and challenges arrive? It takes more than church attendance every Sunday to worship God and to show our love for Him. God is a jealous God and the antidote of jealousy is attention. When we give attention to God, God will attend to us. When Gods sees our love for Him He will respond with His love for us. It is written in Romans 9:15, “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” As much as God’s mercy is for only the ones He chooses to have mercy, when you love God, you have positioned yourself for undeniable mercy of God. Exodus 20:6 confirmed the mercy of God for those who love Him when it stated, “…but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments.”
Among the blessings of loving God is that God will always fight on behalf of those who love Him indeed and in truth. He will fight against every unknown and known enemy in the life of those who love Him. When God fought on behalf of the children of Israel against Balak and Balaam, He fought their battle without them having any knowledge of it. When you love the Lord, He will turn against your enemy like He did for the children of Israel against Balak. God is true as stated, “…LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.” (Deuteronomy 23:5)
Also, when you love God, His blessings will pass onto your descendants. After many years of the Israelites in the bondage of over four hundred years, the love of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob made God to deliver Israelites as stated in Deuteronomy 4:37, “And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power.”

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to love Him continually.

FAITH CAPSULE: With faith, there is love and Jesus questioned if there is faith when He comes back.

1 Corinthians 13

Have you taken some time out to search your heart if indeed you love God? Do you love God? What does it mean to love God? The word of 1 John 5:3 identified what it means to love God, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”
Keeping God’s commandment is loving God. It takes sacrificial commitment to obey God’s commandment.
Loving God is a sacrifice. Sacrifice is not cheap but it is giving unto God what is costly. King David once stated in 2 Samuel 24:24, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”” King David was responding to Araunah who had offered him a free land to make a sacrifice to God. The sacrifice was meant to deliver the children of Israel from death that was caused by David’s census. At that time, David’s census was against the command of God. David’s rejection of free land was a clear demonstration of what a costly sacrifice before God should be. A costly sacrifice is a proven mark of love for God.
Sacrifice to God is worshiping God. To be faithful to God is worshiping God and faithful is loving God. Jesus’ questioning faith is also questioning love. He questioned, “…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”  With faith, there is love and Jesus questioned if there is faith when He comes back. Is there love between children and parent; between husband and wife; between children; between neighbors between believers? Exchanging gifts in the name of valentine is not a testimony of the love which Jesus want to see when He comes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 described love, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”
Worshiping God, loving God is supposed to be a non-stop engagement if there is breath within us. God did not just ask for love rather He gave us a standard of acceptable love when He stated in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love God means to give Him our all. Through the pages of the Bible, men and women that gave all in love to God live to the glory of God. Men like Abraham, Joseph, Daniel and other giants loved God with all their heart, soul and strength.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to love God with heart, soul, and strength.

FAITH CAPSULE: Seek the knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God.

Proverbs 2

A man with wisdom cannot lack knowledge and be without understanding. Wisdom, knowledge and understanding cannot be separated. What you do not know will not work for you. Also, whatever it is that fail to work for you can work against you. In life, it is lack of wisdom, knowledge and understanding that will make a man with a loaded gun in his pocket and being chased around by ordinary one with an ordinary table-knife. Are you an acclaimed believer with power yet living as a victim of lack of wisdom, knowledge and understanding, running away from enemy with table knife at hand? The word stated in Psalm 49:20, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand is like beasts that perish.” The word of the psalmist identifies one with power and being chased around by a powerless one. It is a case of lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Clearly, many claims to know God but not true because they only know about God. Ones that know about God will lack knowledge. Do you lack knowledge? Knowledge is not scarce but, man is scarce from finding knowledge. Knowledge is available for anyone who cares to find it. Today get to know God with understanding. Proverbs 2:5, “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Seek the knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God and the fear of the Lord will not elude you. Based upon all the evil and wickedness that takes place through the whole world today, we can clearly see that man no longer have the fear of God dwelling on the inside of man. It is a testimony to the fact that knowledge is not common and it is hardly implemented in the face of confronting challenges.
Do you know God? Are you one that is engaging the pressing challenges of your life with knowledge? God testifies that He knows His goodness towards us when He spoke, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Regardless of how difficult and challenging your situation is, what you know about the promises of God across the pages of the Bible will give you the knowing edge in the face of confronting evil challenges of the world.
Today, take to the word of Proverbs 2:10-14, “When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked…”  

Prayer for today: Ask for God for knowledge, wisdom and understanding from Him.

FAITH CAPSULE: Grace is shown to man to see and find grace before God.

1 Peter 5

A preacher once explained grace with this acronym: G is for God’s; R is for Riches; A is for At; C is for Christ’s; E is for Expense. Indeed and in truth, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
Grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is kindness from God that we don’t deserve. There is nothing we have done to deserve God’s grace. Grace of God is the evidence of His love for us. It is a gift from God. Grace is divine assistance given to man for restoration (rebirth) or sanctification.
Dictionary describes theological meaning of grace as: “The unmerited love and favor of God toward human beings; divine influence acting in a person to make the person pure, morally strong; the condition of a person brought to God’s favor through this influence; a special virtue, gift, or help given to a person by God.”
God’s grace and mercy’s description are often mixed up only because of similar expressions of God’s favor and love. However, grace and mercy possess a clear distinction.
With grace: When man experience God’s grace, man receive favor that man do not deserve.
With mercy: When man experience God’s mercy, man shall be spared from punishment which man do deserve. For example, Lot experienced mercy and was spared from the punishment of destruction. Genesis 19:19, “Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life…”
Grace is what God has SHOWN US for us to obtain His grace. Isaiah 26:10 buttressed, “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Jesus, the grace of God is shown to man but hardly man do not behold the grace of God.
Ezra 9:8 also stated, “And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.” Jesus is our grace if we are able to see and receive Him and that is why Revelation 22:21 pointed out, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all… ” He is for us all but not all believe to receive. 1Thessalonia 5:28 also confirmed that He is meant to be with us “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Grace God is in place for man to see and is for man to seek God and find grace. When we seek Him we find. Genesis 6:8 stated, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Grace is shown to man to see and find grace before God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be focus on God’s grace in all going and coming.

FAITH CAPSULE: Knowing God’s grace will count; knowing about grace is not enough.

Romans 5

Grace of God is a gift from God. For example, when a wrapped gift is un-wrapped it becomes a blessing in the life of the receiver. Evidently, to receive and believe God’s grace salvation will answer in man’s life. Grace of God is the gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
What is it about His grace?
God’s Grace is something that no man should claim to deserve it; Grace is God’s goodness shining through even the most difficult moments; God’s grace is a blessing we receive from God; Grace is what we should never take for granted but to be giving unceasingly thanks to God.
Above all, having an understanding of grace will help us to appreciate how much God moves in our lives. Jesus is the grace of God for all. We are to always remember that grace saves us from sin. The sacrifice of His Son for our sin is the most significant demonstration of God’s grace yet. Without doubt, thank God for all the things He has done in our lives building our relationship with Him. Grace of God is amazing indeed and in truth.
AMAZING GRACE
Above all, His Amazing Grace does not only provide for our salvation but enables us to live an abundant life. Jesus came to give us life abundantly when He stated the reason why He has come in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 also buttressed the abundance available for those who receive and believe the Grace of God. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
God’s grace is available to us at all times, for every problem and need we face. God’s grace frees us from slavery to sin, guilt, and shame. God’s grace allows us to pursue good works. God’s grace enables us to be all that God intends us to be. God’s grace is amazing indeed.
Word of God about the grace:
John 1:16-17 “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Know the grace of God to live life for the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask that the grace of God shall not expire over your life.